Indonesia’s palm oil production is estimated to rise by 7 to 9 percent in 2011, while global consumption will rise 5 percent annually over the next five years, the Indonesian Palm Oil Board said on Friday.

Maturing plantation areas combined with farmers using better harvesting techniques to cope with heavy rains is likely to see output in Indonesia, the world’s top palm oil producer, hit 22 million tons this year, Derom Bangun, vice chairman at the IPOB said. “Although we had unusual weather last year, it seems that some companies had good production in January,” he said. “We [also] have new mature areas which were planted in 2006/2007.”

Benchmark May crude palm oil contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange hit a near three-year high at 3,967 ringgit last week, on worries about the impact of rains on output, with demand still robust. Prices have gained about 50 percent over the last six months, and analysts see further gains in the short term.

“Economically speaking, we notice that growth has already resumed, which would also trigger demand for vegetable oils,” said Bangun, who is also the founder and chairman of PT Kinar Lapiga, an oil palm plantation company. “The main demand is for food — starting with cooking oil — from India and China,” he added. Global palm oil production stood at about 45 million tons in 2010, with India buying about 8 million tons, China 7 million tons, and Europe 6 million tons. “The better the living standards, the higher the consumption of vegetable oils — so this will increase in India and China as their economies grow,” said Bangun. He predicted global demand for palm oil in 2011 would rise to 47 million tons.

Closer to home, Indonesia has set the export tax for crude palm oil in February at 25 percent, versus 20 percent in January, as it seeks to ensure that domestic requirements are met in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy.

“It is very painful for producers and farmers,” said Bangun. “Many are expecting the government to review this export duty scheme. The only thing we can do is to request [this] and this has been submitted to the government. Not more than 10 percent [can be managed],” he added. “When the export duty [scheme] was designed, the price was fluctuating around $650.It was not expected that prices would go up this high.” Last year Norway signed a $1 billion climate deal with Indonesia, involving a two-year ban on forest clearing from 2011 and encourages palm oil companies to turn to degraded land to expand. Indonesia is still trying to thrash out the details of the moratorium, leading it to miss a planned Jan. 1 start.

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has stated that according to US News and World Report survey results, Indonesia was in the second place among the world`s two most attractive countries for investment destination.

President Joko Widodo expressed congratulations to mothers and women on the occasion of the International Women`s Day in front of the recipients of Smart Indonesia Card, Hope Family Program, and Social Rice (Rastra) assistance.

Presidential Chief of Staff Moeldoko received the visit of the American ambassador to Indonesia, Joseph R Donovan Jr, at his office in Jakarta on Monday, to discuss a number of bilateral cooperation, including joint military training.

The Kazakh government is interested to learn the Indonesian National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT)′s soft approaches to deal with terrorism, BNPT Chief Commissioner General Police Suhardi Alius said in a press statement released on Sunday.